Welcome To The Monkey House is a collection of short stories by Kurt Vonnegut. Having recently read Pity the Reader which provided much insight into Vonnegut the writer and Vonnegut the person, I read this collection with much more appreciation, and much more fun, that I think I would have otherwise. I even laughed out loud a few times which I almost never do when reading.

I will also admit that I partially picked up this collection for the story “Harrison Bergeron” which I had read in either high school or my undergraduate years (so many years ago) and had for a long time associated the story with Ray Bradbury (I think because I read the story at first while also reading Fahrenheit 451).

This collection is great. Despite all of these stories being written in the 1950s and 1960s, most of them comment on social issues that persist or are, unfortunately, re-emerging today. I also think it is fun to read stories like these 60-70 years after they were written because they often imagine a future that people from those days thought might come to pass. They were big dreamers back then and lived in a much different world than the one we have today. Of course, these being stories, they include conflict despite the “bright” future they imagine or because of the “darker” future they could also dream up. I will admit that “Deer in the Works” may not be terribly far off from a situation Vonnegut imagined could happen in a future of mega-corporations.

Overall, this is a fun collection and, despite some aspects of these stories being outdated, the stories remain relevant and insightful about the human race and the way we interact with each other.

Happy Reading.